


In the Shade on a Beautiful Day

by tryslora



Series: All Our Yesterdays [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Jackson Won't Talk, M/M, Memories, Stiles Doesn't Listen, Weddings, implied infidelity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-25
Updated: 2013-06-25
Packaged: 2017-12-16 04:09:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/857602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tryslora/pseuds/tryslora
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a beautiful day outside the hospital room, where Stiles and Jackson keep watch over their unconscious teen daughter. It reminds Jackson of their long ago wedding day, something Stiles isn't sure he wants to remember.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Shade on a Beautiful Day

**Author's Note:**

> This work was inspired by the picture of Dylan O'Brien in a suit. I couldn't resist adding a little wedding day ficlet to this series, and it seemed like the next thing for them to talk about anyway. WARNING: For those triggered by infidelity, please trust me and keep reading the series. 
> 
> As always, I do not own the characters or world of Teen Wolf, I just like to play with them.
> 
> ETA: Editing to fix Caleb's name, finally.

“Do you remember the day we got married?”

Stiles glares at Jackson. “Are you still here?”

“I’m not going anywhere until Nikki’s out of the hospital.” Jackson is still sitting by her side, holding her hand gently, and when Stiles looks, he can still see that faint, gentle pulse of black. Stiles has to admit that it is probably helping, and that Jackson has taken in a lot of pain. He hasn’t left her side since he arrived more than twenty-four hours before. He just sits there with his shirt partly unbuttoned, his jacket tossed over a chair, his tie long since abandoned. 

It’s unfair, Stiles thinks, that Jackson has managed to get more attractive while aging. He’s over the age of forty; he shouldn’t looked attractively tousled right now. He should have deep bags under his eyes, and look like death warmed over. Like Stiles probably looks.

“Is there a reason you’re staring?” Jackson sounds amused, the corner of his mouth lifting in a shadow of his old smirk.

“It’s _glaring_ , and if you have to ask…” Stiles shakes his head. He can’t do this, not here, not now. He can’t _fight_ in front of Nikki. She may be unconscious—they’ve said they need to keep her unconscious so her body can heal—but Stiles is sure she’s hearing every word. He sighs. “Fine. What about the day we got married?”

“Look outside.”

Stiles twists his head so he can see out the window. Everything’s perfectly clear, a beautiful summer day just tilting into afternoon. He swallows hard, because seeing something like that when his baby is like this… his gaze drops, because it reminds him all too clearly of another hospital bed, and another time. He raises Nikki’s hand to his lips, brushes a kiss against her fingertips. He’s not letting go of her yet. “Life goes on,” he says quietly.

“That’s not what I meant.” Jackson leans forward, Nikki’s hand clasped in both of his. “Stay with me, Stiles. We told this story to Nikki a hundred times at least when she was younger. When she’d play wedding with her dolls, and have all the boys get married.”

Stiles remembers this, his darling girl sitting on the floor, her Barbies in seats watching the Ken dolls say their vows. “It was a perfectly clear day,” he says, voice hoarse.

“Which was a good thing, since you’d been panicking about rain for days, and cursing the fact that you’d let Lydia plan an outdoor wedding.” Jackson’s voice has a cadence that is familiar, even after all these years. “You were also hiding from me with some idiocy about how I couldn’t see your suit before the wedding.”

“It’d be bad luck.” Stiles swallows, because this isn’t easy, remembering that day. Long before everything went to hell, back when he’d been head over heels in love with Jackson and absolutely sure they were doing the right thing. “Besides, you did the same thing, so I had no idea what you were going to look like before it started. The only one who’d seen both was Lydia.”

“And Allison.”

“Right, and Allison.” Because Stiles had needed someone to help him pick out the perfect suit, and he’d taken both girls with him. And even though Lydia trusted Jackson’s taste completely, the girls had insisted on making sure he wouldn’t clash with Stiles.

“You were waiting under the arbor when I first saw you.” Jackson pins Stiles with his gaze, and Stiles can’t help but remember the look in his eyes. That strange hope, that light. “There were shadows from the leaves across your face, and you were wearing that charcoal suit. It took me a few steps to realize that you weren’t wearing a tie, and that your top button was unbuttoned.” Jackson stops, glancing at Nikki. His voice is lower when he speaks again. “I wanted to lick the skin I could see.”

Stiles feels the flush under his skin, the heat in his cheeks. “Stop,” he snaps quietly. “That was a long time ago. A lifetime ago, and a _different_ life. Not to mention, not in front of Nikki.”

“I’m pretty sure she’s aware that her fathers used to have sex,” Jackson says dryly. “She’s dating now, isn’t she?”

“Barely,” Stiles admits. “She never grew out of being best friends with Caleb, but this past spring they started… dating. It’s not easy to see her growing up. I think what our life was like when we were their age, though, and it’s completely different for them. No Romeo and Juliet. No hiding from each other. No secrets. I can’t blame them for coming together. Who else would they trust?”

“She’s liked him for a long time.”

“What?”

Jackson’s jaw goes tight. “I’m sure she’s liked him for longer than you think. Think of whose daughter she is. And I suspect Caleb is just as sweet and naive as his father could be.” He looks back at Stiles. “You were in charcoal on charcoal. That shirt, the vest, the jacket and pants. You looked amazing, and nervous. You tried to stand still, but your hands were in your pockets. I heard Lydia telling you to take them out, hissing at you from the seats, but you wouldn’t do it. It was like they were the only thing holding you down.”

It takes Stiles a moment to follow Jackson’s line of conversation back into the past, and he shakes his head. He laughs bitterly. “And you. You were completely unruffled. Stoic. Perfect, just like always. I was expecting classic lines, and you came in with that jacket. And you smirked when you saw the look I gave you.”

“I was still thinking about licking—”

“Don’t.” Stiles cuts through the air with his hand. “Just don’t, Jackson. It was a good day, but it was in the past. The vows, all of it. It’s dead and gone now.”

“You haven’t been with anyone since I’ve left.”

“How the hell do you—right, Allison.” Because of course they stayed friends somehow, so she must be the one who’s kept Jackson up to date on Stiles’s distinct lack of a love life. “She doesn’t know everything. And it’s more than I can say for you.” He laughs at the dark look Jackson gives him. “You opened this can of worms, you might as well enjoy it. How’s Amanda?”

Something twitches in Jackson’s cheek. “You never did learn to listen, did you? The most important things in your life, and you can’t stop long enough to listen to the words people say and why they say them. You just make your own decisions—”

“Did I hit a nerve?” Stiles cuts him off. “Not in front of Nikki.” The silence only lasts a moment before Stiles can’t hold it in anymore. “How can you accuse me of not listening? I was there, that day. The day we promised ourselves to each other, to be true to each other, to tell each other everything and… and…” His hands flail out. “I was _there_ and I meant it, Jackson. And you can’t try to tell me now that I just _misunderstood_ things, because that’s not how it works. If I hadn’t looked into things, if I hadn’t found out, you never would have _told_ me anything.”

Jackson stiffens, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone. He lifts it to his ear without looking at Stiles. “Hello, Amanda.”

Of course. Stiles turns to stare out the window, his fingers still tangled with Nikki’s.

“She’s not out of the woods, but they’re done with the surgery. Still in ICU, but they’re letting both Stiles and I stay with her, which is good. I’m helping as much as I can.” Jackson goes silent, and Stiles can imagine him listening with that intent expression that he gets. “Tomorrow afternoon? I’ll get someone to pick you up. I haven’t even gotten a hotel room here yet. Hang on.” Another pause. “Stiles.”

He turns back slowly to see Jackson standing there, one hand casually covering the microphone on his phone. Jackson smiles thinly. “I need to make some arrangements. If she needs me, if it gets worse, come get me. As for you, when you’re ready to actually listen, let me know. There are things you need to know.”

Stiles waves at the door, not dignifying that with a response. This is Jackson, after all. Jackson, who has hurt him so badly in the past, and Jackson, who he hasn’t seen in ten years.

Jackson, who is still Nikki’s Papa, and who has sat by her side, stoically taking her pain.

Jackson, who joined him in the shade beneath that trellis on their wedding and kissed the breath out of him before they ever started their vows.

Fuck.

“I was terrified that day,” he murmurs to Nikki, finding his own cadence in the story again. “There I was, waiting to link myself permanently to the guy who’d bruised me during my teenage years, and stole my heart when we were adults. I didn’t know if I was doing the right thing. But Scott stood there with me while I was waiting and he said that I should follow my heart, that it would take me where I needed to go. And I stood there, and I waited, and I married your papa. And it really was a good thing for a time. I’m so sorry it didn’t work out.”

She can’t answer, but he can imagine the sad look that she gave him when he told the story right after Jackson left them. It stopped being her favorite story then, and the Ken dolls were never married again.

It was a beautiful day, back then.

Too bad the storm came in not long after.


End file.
